It has been quite some time since I have last written. This is simply due to the pain in my arm. Thankfully things seem to be slowly on the mend now so I am gently but surely resuming what was (I recommend Platelet Rich Plasma injections for damaged tendons).
Following on from my Kindle illustration for my friend’s book, I have completed and had published the other 2. That’s the trilogy complete now. You can buy these Kindle books on
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enigmas-1945-Chroniclers-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B008OU4JMS/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1
Overall it was an interesting experience working to a brief. My friend (the client) provided some initial thoughts for the illustrations and from here I drafted up some potential ideas. What we both found was that the less complicated the illustration, the more successful it was. Equally trying to fit too much in just confused things and didn’t work at all. The client was keen to maintain a common theme for the trilogy’s illustration so once we had agreed the first, we had a good basis from which to continue.
In terms of my own work whilst I am actively thinking about new ideas I wanted to carry on with some of the other digital pieces I had started last year. This has been an interesting exercise to do in itself as the initial feeling and drive I had felt for these paintings have long disappeared so I am essentially painting with new and objective eyes. ‘The Coward’ is transforming before me – still don’t think I am there yet. It is an all encompassing feeling I am trying to capture, a type of dream-like monster thing that cannot be pinned down – with elements of fantasy and hope, but with the suggestions of nightmarish cancerous obsession.
‘Floating’ is well on the way. It;s hard to tell by this photograph but it has subtle texture in it that you can only see when you venture close up. This kind of grounds the painting, yet from a distance I am trying to get the feeling of suspension and transience. I like to play with dichotomies like this.
‘The Order of Things’ is quite experimental. Think I probably prefer my digital version, but this painted piece allows me to explore with different techniques. That is the beauty of one’s art when one doesn’t like it – it becomes so much easier to let go as there is nothing to lose.
‘Flutter’ I think is perhaps a bit representational still. Whilst I am happy enough with the general spirit of it, it is too suggestive of religious faith for my liking. This is not to say that I have a problem if people view it in that way, but more that I would like it to have potential wider connotations. It always seems to go back to the same thing for me, the crossing and blurring of borders, the idea of the capturing of that which cannot be defined but can nevertheless be somehow recognised and understood.
Going forward to new work, I am in a way (and for the time being) narrowing down my investigations. Over the last umpteenth months as I have been recovering, my life has become very insular and in this isolation it allows me to study things more quietly and for much longer periods. I become fascinated often with the simplicity (and what a misnomer this simplicity actually is) of objects and how they sit in space. This could range for example from a piece of washing on the floor, a sparse branch on a tree, or a shadow on a wall.
There is no doubt that my personal situation and the general context of my life, knowledge and experience has considerable impact on how I view these objects and where then my imagination takes me. With this in mind, I am in the early stages of photographing these objects and digitally playing with the possibilities.
In addition to this I have been some experimenting collaging photos onto found pieces of wood that I have found in skips – trying to blur the boundary between the image and the physical form upon which it sits.
